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A Shaolin Side-Trip
by Gene Ching
The Founder and Shoes
Let's begin with a big flashback, back to the very beginning. Shoes are deeply symbolic for all Shaolin practitioners. They invoke the legend of the founder of Shaolin Kung Fu and first patriarch of Zen, Bodhidharma (or Tamo in Mandarin.) Tamo is recognized by his shoes - or shoe, to be specific. In Asian art, if you see a monk with one shoe, it's Tamo. This stems from a legend about Tamo's “death.” Tamo was poisoned by a jealous rival. The culprit was Bodhiruchi, known in China as Guang Tong. Guang Tong was also from India, a dharma master of the small vehicle Buddhism and first patriarch of northern branch of the Chinese Tilun school. Six times Guang Tong poisoned Tamo's vegetarian meals, but Tamo ate it anyway. Once, he even vomited up live writhing snakes immediately after, just to demonstrate the futility of further attempts. But by the sixth time, Tamo decided that his mission in China was done. The Dharma had been transmitted and it was time to move on. So Tamo "died" and was buried at Xionger Shan (Bear Ear Mountain) near Shaolin in 536 CE.
But the story was far from over. Soon after, Song Yun, a diplomatic representative from the Northern Wei, encountered Tamo near the Qin range on the road to Zhongnan Mountain. Tamo was carrying one shoe. He told Song Yun that his Emperor had died and that he should return quickly. When Song Yun returned, he found that Tamo's claim was indeed true. But since Tamo had "died," Song Yu was accused of lying and thrown in jail. Friends appealed to the courts, and it was decided to exhume Tamo's grave in order to prove Song Yun's outrageous statement. Sure enough, Tamo's body was gone and Song Yun was freed. All that remained in the coffin was Tamo's other shoe.
